There are several new delivery systems in development, which will hopefully make vaccines more efficient to deliver. Possible methods include liposomes and ''ISCOM'' (immune stimulating complex).
The latest developments in vaccine delivery technologies have resulted in oral vaccines. A polio vaccine was developed and tested by volunteer vaccinations with no formal training; the results were very positive in that the ease of the vaccines increased dramatically. With an oral vaccine, there is no risk of blood contamination. Oral vaccines are likely to be solid which have proven to be more stable and less likely to freeze; this stability reduces the need for a "cold chain": the resources required to keep vaccines within a restricted temperature range from the manufacturing stage to the point of administration, which, in turn, will decrease costs of vaccines. Finally, a microneedle approach, which is still in stages of development, seems to be the vaccine of the future, the microneedle, which is "pointed projections fabricated into arrays that can create vaccine delivery pathways through the skin".
Plasmids
The use of plasmids has been validated in preclinical studies as a protective vaccine strategy for cancer and infectious diseases. However, the crossover application into human studies has been met with poor results based on the inability to provide clinically relevant benefit. The overall efficacy of plasmid DNA immunization depends on increasing the plasmid's immunogenicity while also correcting for factors involved in the specific activation of immune effector cells.
Further Reading
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